Kevorkian Assists 2 Suicides Just Before Temporary Ban Is Signed

Two women killed themselves Tuesday with help from suicide-machine inventor Jack Kevorkian, hours before Michigan’s governor signed a law that will temporarily ban assisted suicides.

Both women, the seventh and eighth since 1990 to die with Kevorkian’s help, had attended a news conference with him 12 days ago to protest the legislation. The state’s lack of such a ban was cited when charges against Kevorkian were dropped in the first three deaths he aided.

Kevorkian, a retired pathologist whose medical license has been suspended, was by their sides when Marguerite Tate, 70, and Marcella Lawrence, 67, committed suicide at Tate’s home. Both were acutely ill.

Later in the day, Gov. John Engler signed legislation that as of March 30 will impose a 15-month ban on assisted suicides while a commission studies the issue. After receiving the commission’s recommendation, the Legislature will have six months to act before the law’s penalties lapse. Anyone helping with a suicide during the ban could face felony charges punishable by up to four years in prison.

“I want to sign it today as a protest to what Mr. Kevorkian has done,” Engler said. “The methods of Mr. Jack Kevorkian, and I stress ‘Mr.’ since his license to practice medicine has been suspended, are wrong because he has deliberately flouted the law and taken it upon himself to be his own judge, jury and executioner in Michigan.”

Kevorkian has been a proponent of doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill. One of his attorneys, Geoffrey Fieger, said outlawing assisted suicide likely would not stop Kevorkian from helping other people end their lives.

Lawrence, of Mt. Clemens, Mich., had heart disease, emphysema and arthritis in her back. Tate, of Auburn Hills, Mich., suffered from the degenerative nervous disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was unable to speak and communicated by typing on a keyboard.

An investigator with the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office said the deaths had been reported as occurring from inhaling carbon monoxide.